A man's Self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house.

— William James

A new position of responsibility will usually show a man to be a far stronger creature than was supposed.

— William James

An idea to be suggestive must come to the individual with the force of a revelation.

— William James

An outré explanation, violating all our preconceptions, would never pass for a true account of a novelty. We should scratch round industriously till we found something less eccentric.

— William James

An unlearned carpenter of my acquaintance once said in my hearing: 'There is very little difference between one man and another but what there is very important.'

— William James

As Charles Lamb says there is nothing so nice as doing good by stealth and being found out by accident so I now say it is even nicer to make heroic decisions and to be prevented by 'circumstances beyond your control' from ever trying to execute them.

— William James

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

— William James

Belief and doubt are living attitudes, and involve conduct on our part. Our only way, for example, of doubting, or refusing to believe, that a certain thing is, is continuing to act as if it were not.

— William James

Belief creates the actual fact.

— William James

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create that fact.

— William James